ZAGREB, January 9, 2019 - The World Bank has mildly increased the outlook on Croatia's economic growth this year, warning that activities in Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania are held back by softening exports and labour shortages. Croatia's economy is projected to grow 2.8% this year, the World Bank said on Tuesday. In last June's outlook, the growth was projected at 2.7%.
The World Bank projects that Croatia's economic growth in 2018 was 2.7%, revising upwards the projection from last June by 0.1 percentage points, while upholding the growth projection for 2020 at 2.8%. In 2021, growth is projected to slow down to 2.6%.
"Softening exports and labour shortages held back growth in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, while fiscal support and strong consumption enabled Poland to grow a faster 5 percent," the World Bank said.
As for the global economy outlook, the World Bank points to a softening of international trade and manufacturing activity around the world as well as elevated trade tensions. Therefore, it reduced global growth projections for this year and 2020 by 0.1 percentage points. The growth projection is 2.9% for 2019 and 2.8% for 2020 and 2021.
"At the beginning of 2018, the global economy was firing on all cylinders, but it lost speed during the year and the ride could get even bumpier in the year ahead," said World Bank Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva.
More news on the Croatian economy can be found in our Business section.
